Content Analysis

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Content Analysis

Content analysis is, as its name suggests, the analysis of the content of communications. Researchers use content analysis to make statements about the meaning, impact, or producers of those communications. Depending on the purpose of the specific research project, analysts may focus on the literal content or seek to extract deeper (or latent) meanings.

This multiplicity of purposes has led content analysts to use a variety of strategies for analyzing text systematically. Some of these strategies, such as word counts, are easy to replicate, whereas other forms are far more interpretive and dependent on the judgment of the individual who codes the text. Most forms of content analysis yield quantitative indicators. Indeed, some would define quantification as an essential aspect of content analysis (e.g., Weber, 1990). Others view it as preferable but not essential (Berelson, 1952; Holsti, 1969).

Content analysis is not new. According to Krippendorff (1980), empirical studies of communications can be dated back to the 1600s. More immediate ancestors to modern content analysis, however, are studies that sought to evaluate the content of mass media in the early 20th century and Nazi propaganda during World War II (Berelson, 1952; Krippendorff, 1980). As a method for studying communications, content analysis has been an especially popular methodology in the field of (mass) communication.

Holsti (1969) reported a trend toward a more frequent use of content analysis, as well as its application to a broader array of problems, including subjects of interest to political scientists. He furthermore noted an emerging tendency for content analysis to be used in combination with other social science research methods and a move toward computerassisted content analysis.

This chapter emphasizes quantification, although it also discusses some of the trade-offs between quantitative and qualitative forms of content analysis. After discussing definitions and forms of content analysis, the chapter describes some of the issues in designing content analysis studies, with the objective of giving the reader the basic tools for evaluating whether this methodology might be useful in her or his research. The chapter then turns to the issue of reliability and stability, which are of particular importance when using human coders, and subsequently turns to a discussion of the emerging strategy of using computer assistance in the coding of text for content analysis. The chapter ends with an assessment of the future of content analysis in political science.

What is Content Analysis?

According to Weber (1990), content analysis is a “research method that uses a set of procedures to make valid inferences from text” (p. 9). This concise definition captures the essence of content analysis very well, although it may be worth adding that text is not the only content that might be [Page 491]subjected to analysis. (Transcripts of) oral communications, as well as visual communications, could also be subjected to this type of analysis. This chapter, however, limits its scope to the content analysis of text (or at least verbal material) and does not consider the analysis of visual communications.

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